EP1959697A1 - A method of providing information about radio access possibilities - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of providing information about radio access possibilities is provided. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A first mobile terminal (110) collects first information about a first set of radio access possibilities (200), wherein the first set of radio access possibilities (108) comprises the radio access possibilities which are currently available for the first mobile terminal. The first mobile terminal (202) transmits then the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities in order to provide the first information to other mobile terminals (102).

Description

Field of the invention
• The invention relates to a method of providing information about radio access possibilities of a mobile terminal to other mobile terminals, to a mobile terminal, to an anchor point, and to a telecommunications network.
Background and related art
• A wireless telecommunications network, also referred to as wireless communication network, provides access for and communicates with a mobile terminal via a base station which provides radio coverage for the cell of the telecommunications network in which the mobile terminal resides. The term mobile terminal refers to mobile devices which are adapted to connect to wireless networks, e.g. cell phones, laptops, PCs, etc.
• From a mobile terminals point of view, the telecommunications network provides a radio access possibility for the mobile terminal through which the mobile terminal is able to connect to the network, to communicate for example with other fixed or mobile terminals, or to browse the internet. The term 'radio access possibility' is referred here as a wireless communication technology or service which provides access to a network for a mobile terminal.
• Once the mobile terminal is connected to the telecommunications network, it uses a particular service provided by the telecommunications network. Another telecommunications network which might in principle be available for the mobile terminal might however provide a service which could be of interest for the mobile terminal, for example the same service with a better quality or at a cheaper price. The mobile terminal might however not get notice about this access possibility.
• The base stations of some telecommunications providers send information about possible alternative radio access possibilities for the mobile terminal they serve. The alternative radio access possibilities are however usually limited to the ones of the network operator.
Summary of the invention
• It is an object of the invention to provide a method of providing information about radio access possibilities between mobile terminals. It is another object of the invention to describe a mobile terminal that is adapted to provide information about radio access possibilities to other mobile terminals and that is adapted to employ the information about radio access possibilities received from other terminals. Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to describe a telecommunications network that is adapted to support the provision of information about available radio access possibilities to the mobile terminals.
• According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing information about radio access possibilities, wherein the method is performed by a first mobile terminal. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises the step of collecting first information about a first set of radio access possibilities. The first set of radio access possibilities comprises the radio access possibilities which are currently available for the first mobile terminal. In a further step, the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities is transmitted in order to provide the first information to other mobile terminals.
• According to this embodiment of the invention, the first mobile terminal collects first information about the radio access possibilities that provide radio coverage at the location of the first mobile terminal and that can be detected by the first mobile terminal. The radio access possibilities might for example relate to a GSM network, to a UMTS network, or to WLAN or Wimax access points. The first information relating to the first set of radio access possibilities might provide the type of each radio access possibility comprised in the first set of radio access possibilities, the price, the quality, the transmission power, the location, the provider name, and so on.
• The other mobile terminals might therefore receive information of possible other access technologies or networks not announced to them by their providers. This provides some independence to the mobile terminals with respect to their providers in the selection of possible access technologies or telecommunications networks, as a mobile terminal which might be connected to a particular network can use the first information in order to select another radio access possibility, for example a radio access possibility which provides a service at a cheaper price or at a higher data rate or quality, which might not be advertised by the serving network to this mobile terminal for a handover.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises the step of receiving second information by the first mobile terminal about a second set of radio access possibilities. The second set of radio access possibilities comprises the radio access possibilities which are currently available for a second mobile terminal. The second mobile terminal collects second information about the second set of radio access possibilities which comprises the radio access possibilities that are available for the second mobile terminal and transmits the second information in order to provide the second information to other mobile terminals, such that the first mobile terminal is able to receive the second information.
• In this way, the first mobile terminal obtains information about possible alternative radio access technologies at its location or near to its location even if these radio access possibilities are not advertised or not known to the operator's network to which the first mobile terminal is currently connected. As mentioned before, the second information might similarly as the first information relate to the newly detected radio access possibilities, such as WLAN or Wimax access points, good cell sites that were not already included into the original search list provided by the operators' network to the first mobile terminal, nearby access opportunities which could be reached when the user of the first mobile terminal relocates and the second information might a!so comprise possible load, cost and other performance indications of the radio access possibilities of the second set of radio access possibilities.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first mobile terminal evaluates the first information and/or the second information and considers a radio access possibility from the first set of radio access possibilities and/or from the second set of radio access possibilities as a new access possibility. The first mobile terminal therefore decides to which of the first and/or second radio access possibilities it wants to perform a handover. In a further step, the first mobile terminal initiates a handover from an initial radio access possibility to the selected radio access possibility, wherein the initial radio access possibility is currently employed by the first mobile terminal. Alternatively, the mobile terminal requests the network providing the initial radio access possibility to support a handover to the selected radio access possibility.
• The second information from the second mobile terminal might be used by the first mobile terminal to select one radio access possibility from the radio access possibilities comprised in the second set of radio access possibilities. The selected radio access possibilities is then considered as a new access possibility which is better suited than the initial radio access possibility. The first mobile terminal initiates then itself a handover from the initial radio access possibility to the selected radio access possibility and requests the network providing the initial radio access possibility to perform the handover. The handover could be supported by some functionality in the network, e.g., by a network component such as a mobility anchor point in the network which supports keeping the ongoing connection alive, maybe even seamlessly.
• Alternatively, the first mobile terminal can disconnect the connection to the initial radio access possibility and attach to the selected radio access possibility. In this case all ongoing sessions may be stopped. An anchor point located between the network which provides the initial radio access possibility and the network which provides the selected radio access possibility might provide support for applications running on the first mobile terminal in a way that the applications can be further executed by the first mobile terminal after the first mobile terminal has connected to the selected radio access possibility. For example, if the user of the first mobile terminal is currently surfing the Internet via a web browser and reading a page, the anchor point could support the web browser so that the user can further read the page and navigate through the internet after the attachment has taken place.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first mobile terminal further transmits the second information in order to provide the second information to other mobile terminals. This provides the advantage that a further mobile terminal obtains knowledge about the second set of radio access possibilities available for the second mobile terminal via the first mobile terminal.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first mobile terminal sends the first information and/or the second information to a first telecommunications network, wherein the first telecommunications network provides an initial access possibility to the first mobile terminal. In a further step, the first mobile terminal requests the first telecommunication network to consider radio access possibilities of the first set of radio access possibilities and/or of the second set of radio access possibilities as possible candidates for a handover.
• After having obtained the second information about the second set of radio access possibilities, the first mobile terminal reports the second information along with the first information to the first telecommunications network which controls the first mobile terminal as it currently provides the initial access possibility to the first mobile terminal. The first telecommunications network is then requested to consider one radio access possibility of the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities as a candidate for a handover.
• The selection of new candidates for handover is thus left to the first telecommunications network and hence to the operator that currently provides radio access to the telecommunications network. This provides the advantage that the operator gets control over the radio access technologies which are used by the user of the first mobile terminal and to which the user will switch when being connected to the operator's network. This might open the way to new business models and allow the operators to gain revenues as they can select their own radio access technologies when comprised in the second set of radio access possibilities.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first information is transmitted from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal via a direct connection. The connection might be unidirectional or bidirectional.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the second information is transmitted from the second mobile terminal to the first mobile terminal via a direct connection. This connection might also be a unidirectional connection. Alternatively, the connection is bidirectional so that the first and second information are exchanged via a direct wireless connection between the first and second mobile terminals, for example by use of Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1), or WLAN (IEEE 802.11). A direct connection provides the advantage that the first and/or second information is provided from a mobile terminal to another mobile terminal which are relatively close to each other and hence, there is a large probability that the first set of radio access possibilities detected by the first mobile terminal is also available for the second mobile terminal.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first information is transmitted by the first mobile terminal to the first telecommunications network and the first telecommunications network forwards the first information to a second telecommunications network. The second telecommunications network transmits the first information to the second mobile terminal which is served by the second telecommunications network. The first information is thus not transmitted directly to the second mobile terminal but via the first telecommunications network which is serving the first mobile terminal and via the second telecommunications network which is serving the second mobile terminal.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the second information is transmitted by the second mobile terminal to the second telecommunications network from where it is transmitted to the first telecommunications network which transmits the second information to the first telecommunications network.
• The first and second telecommunications networks could be identical, thus the same operator might provide radio access to the first and second mobile terminal. The first mobile terminal and/or the second mobile terminal could for example send the first/second information via multicast messages to other local mobile terminals or alternatively the base stations of the telecommunications network that serve the first or second mobile terminals could add the first or second information obtained from the mobile terminals into their broadcast list of handover candidates information. This ensures that mobile terminals get information about alternative access technologies in their vicinity.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the first mobile terminal selects a radio access possibility from the second set of radio access possibilities and/or from the first set of radio access possibilities, wherein the selected radio access possibility is considered as a new access possibility by the first mobile terminal, and wherein the selected radio access possibility is available for the second mobile terminal at a location. In a further step, the first mobile terminal informs its user about the availability of the radio access possibility at this location. After the user of the first mobile terminal has obtained information about a nearby, good radio access possibility, the user could choose to relocate a little bit to move into the coverage of that good radio access possibility. For example, when a user, who is surfing the internet via UMTS receives by Bluetooth from the second mobile terminal the information that a cheap WLAN access is nearby, he/she may choose to relocate some meters to be able to use that much better suited radio access opportunity. In that sense, the users benefit from having the choice from a larger pool of possible radio access possibilities (the radio access possibilities comprised in the second set of radio access possibilities) from which the best suited one can then be selected. This pool can in principle consist of any possible radio access possibility and is no longer limited to the ones offered by a certain single network operator as the information about the available radio access possibilities is provided by other mobile terminals and not directly by the network. The user can then for example choose the access possibility with the highest data rate or the one with the lowest price. The user may also be very satisfied when he gets the knowledge about a better suited radio access possibility in close vicinity so that he just must relocate a little bit. This increases the user's satisfaction and might allow the network operators which support such features to increase its number of users and subscribers.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the second information received about the radio access possibilities comprised in a second set of radio access possibilities is made available and/or displayed by the first mobile terminal to the user of the first mobile terminal. This enables the user of the first mobile terminal to have full control over the selection of the available radio access possibilities. Hence the user can select one radio access possibility from the second set of radio access possibilities and switch, e.g., manually, to the selected radio access possibility.
• In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a mobile terminal. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the mobile terminal relates to a first mobile terminal and comprises means for collecting first information about a first set of radio access possibilities. The first set of radio access possibilities comprises radio access possibilities which are currently available for the first mobile terminal. The mobile terminal further comprises means for transmitting the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities in order to provide the first information to at least one second mobile terminal.
• According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided an anchor point with means for receiving a request for a handover of a first mobile terminal to a selected radio access possibility of a set of radio access possibilities. The set of radio access possibilities has been provided to the first mobile terminal by a second mobile terminal and the set of radio access possibilities comprises the radio access possibilities that are currently available for the second mobile terminal. The anchor point has also means for supporting the handover from an initial radio access possibility to the selected radio access possibility. As mentioned above, the first mobile terminal might itself select a radio access possibility from the second set of radio access technologies. The selected radio access possibility is then considered as new target radio access possibility to which the first mobile terminal wants to be handed over to. The switching to the selected radio access possibility is supported by an anchor point which keeps the ongoing connection alive, maybe even seamlessly. The anchor point might be located in the telecommunications network serving the first mobile terminal or in between the serving telecommunications network and the target telecommunications network providing the selected radio access possibility. Thus, the anchor point might be located in the internet through which both telecommunications networks are connected.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the anchor point links a first telecommunications network providing the initial radio access possibility with a second telecommunications network: The first telecommunications network thus serves the first mobile terminal and the second telecommunications network serves the second mobile terminal. The anchor point comprises means for receiving first information about a first set of radio access possibilities from the first mobile terminal. The first set of radio access possibilities comprises thereby the access possibilities which are available for the first mobile terminal. The anchor point further comprises means for forwarding the first information to the second mobile terminal via the second telecommunications network.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the anchor point corresponds to a network component comprised in the first telecommunications network or in the second telecommunications network. In particular, the anchor point is located in the core network of the first or second telecommunications network.
• In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the anchor point is located in the internet connecting the first and second telecommunications networks.
• According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a telecommunications network. The telecommunications network has means for receiving first and/or second information about a first and/or second set of radio access possibilities from a first mobile terminal. The radio access possibilities of the first set of radio access possibilities being currently available for the first mobile terminal. The radio access possibilities of the second set of radio access possibilities being currently available for a second mobile terminal, wherein the second mobile terminal has provided the second information to the first mobile terminal either via a direct connection to the first mobile terminal or via the telecommunication network, and wherein the telecommunications network serves the first mobile terminal via an initial access possibility. The telecommunications network further comprises means for receiving a request from the first mobile terminal through which the telecommunications network is asked to perform or to support a handover the first mobile terminal from the initial access possibility to a target radio access possibility, wherein the target radio access possibility is comprised in the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities. Furthermore, the telecommunications network comprises means for selecting a radio access possibility from the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities by use of the second information, wherein the radio access possibility is a possible candidate for a handover of the first mobile terminal from the initial access possibility to the selected radio access possibility.
Brief description of the drawings
• In the following preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in greater detail by way of example only making reference to the drawings in which:

Figure 1

shows schematically first and second mobile terminals having access to several radio access possibilities,

Figure 2

is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 3

shows schematically a block diagram of first and second telecommunications networks serving a first and second mobile terminal, respectively, and

Figure 4

shows schematically a block diagram of a first and second mobile terminal, wherein the first mobile terminal provides information about a hotspot to the second mobile terminal.

Detailed description
• Fig. 1 shows schematically a first mobile terminal 100 which is served by abase station 104 of a telecommunications network and a secondmobile terminal 102 which is connected to ahotspot 106. Thehotspot 106 can for example relate to a WLAN-access-point through which access to the public internet is provided to the secondmobile terminal 102. Thehotspot 106 has aradio coverage area 128.
• Thebase station 104 provides access for the first mobile terminal 100 to the telecommunications network, e.g., to a UMTS network. For this, thebase station 104 holds aconnection 108 to the mobile terminal 100.
• The first mobile terminal 100 comprises amicroprocessor 110 which executes acomputer program product 112. Thecomputer program product 112 is permanently stored on the first mobile terminal 100 and loaded into themicroprocessor 110, e.g., during the initialization phase of the first mobile terminal 100.
• In operation, thecomputer program product 112 instructs the first mobile terminal 100 to detect the radio access possibilities that are available for the first mobile terminal 100, e.g., by listening to beacon signals emitted by base stations, hotspots, etc., and to collectfirst information 114 about the detected available radio access points of the first mobile terminal 100. In the following, it is considered that thebase station 104 provides the only available radio access possibility for the mobile terminal 100. Thefirst information 114 therefore comprisesinformation 116 about this radio access possibility, referred to as radio access possibility 1 (RAP1). Theinformation 116 might relate to the type of the radio access possibility (here UMTS, see above), the provider name, the price, the available transmission power, etc. As the first mobile terminal 100 resides in the outside of thecoverage area 128 of thehotspot 106, it will not get notice of the presence of thehotspot 106, even if it is in relatively close vicinity of the first mobile terminal 100.
• Furthermore, thecomputer program product 112 initiates the transmission of thefirst information 114 in order to provide thefirst information 114 to other mobile terminals, such as the secondmobile terminal 102. The transmission can be performed by establishing a connection 126 (for example a Bluetooth connection) between the first mobile terminal 100 and the secondmobile terminal 102 so that thefirst information 114 can be transferred from the first mobile terminal 100 to the secondmobile terminal 102. Theconnection 126 can be a unidirectional connection or a bidirectional connection.
• The secondmobile terminal 102 also comprises amicroprocessor 118 which executes acomputer program product 120. Thecomputer program product 120 is permanently stored on the secondmobile terminal 102 and loaded into themicroprocessor 118, e.g., during the startup phase of the secondmobile terminal 102 after it has been switched on.
• In operation, thecomputer program product 120 causes the secondmobile terminal 102 to collectsecond information 122 about radio access possibilities that are currently available for the secondmobile terminal 102. As the secondmobile terminal 102 is currently connected with thehotspot 106, it hasdetailed information 124 about this radio access possibility, which is referred to as radio access possibility 2 (RAP 2) in order to distinguish it fromRAP 1.
• The secondmobile terminal 102 might also be able to detect the beacon signal emitted by thebase station 104 and therefore might get notice of theradio access possibility 1 provided by thebase station 104. Theinformation 116 obtained via, e.g., the beacon signal about thisradio access possibility 1 might correspond to the information obtained by themobile terminal 1 and thus the identical reference numeral is assigned to the information. The degree of detail in theinformation 116 provided by the first and secondmobile terminals 100, 102 might however vary.
• Thesecond information 122 comprisinginformation 116 and 124 is transmitted via theconnection 126 from the secondmobile terminal 102 to the first mobile terminal 100. Since thefirst information 114 has already been sent via theconnection 126, theconnection 126 is according to this example a bidirectional connection. However, thesecond information 122 can alternatively be transferred via a separate unidirectional connection established from the secondmobile terminal 102 to the first mobile terminal 100.
• The first mobile terminal 100 receives thesecond information 122 and therefore getsinformation 116, 124 about radio access possibilities (RAP 1, RAP 2) that are available for the secondmobile terminal 102.
• Thecomputer program product 112 can be adapted to analyze thesecond information 122 and thus determine that the information about theradio access point 1 116 relates to the radio access point provided by thebase station 104. Further thecomputer program product 112 can inform the user about the availability of thehotspot 106 at the location of the secondmobile terminal 102 when this information is provided in the information relating to theradio access point 2 124. The user might then choose to move into thecoverage area 128 and the user might then manually switch from the radio access possibility provided by thebase station 104 to the radio access possibility provided by thehotspot 106. Alternatively, the user might request from the network to assist the handover procedure from the radio access possibility provided by thebase station 104 to the radio access possibility provided by thehotspot 106.
• It has been assumed so far that the secondmobile terminal 102 is connected to thehotspot 106. It might also well be that the secondmobile terminal 102 is disconnected from thehotspot 106 and holds anactive connection 130 with thebase station 104. The secondmobile terminal 102 detects then thehotspot 106 through a beacon signal emitted by the hotspot. Theinformation 124 is then collected by the secondmobile terminal 102 by use of the beacon signal. The secondmobile terminal 102 is then able to sent thesecond information 122 comprisinginformation 116 and 124 in a multicast message to other local mobile terminal via thebase station 104 so that the first mobile terminal 100 will receive thesecond information 122 via the base station. Alternatively, thesecond information 122 could by given to thebase station 104 viaconnection 130 and thebase station 104 could include theinformation 116, 124 obtained from the secondmobile terminal 102 into a broadcast list of handover candidates which is sent by thebase station 102 to the served mobile terminals on a regular basis.
• Hence, the mobile terminal 100 can obtain thesecond information 122 directly from the mobile terminal viaconnection 126 or indirectly via the servingbase station 104.
• Fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method in accordance with the present invention. The method in accordance with the invention comprisesstep 200, in which first information about a first set of radio access possibilities is collected, wherein the first set of radio access possibilities comprises the radio access possibilities which are currently available for the first mobile terminal. Instep 202, the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities is transmitted by the first mobile terminal in order to provide the first information to a second mobile terminal.
• Fig. 3 shows schematically a block diagram of afirst telecommunications network 300 serving a firstmobile terminal 302 via anactive connection 340 and of asecond telecommunications network 304 serving a secondmobile terminal 306 via anactive connection 342. Thefirst telecommunications network 300 comprises ananchor point 308, adatabase 310, and abase station 312. Thebase station 312 and thedatabase 310 are components of an access network of thefirst telecommunications network 300, whereas theanchor point 308 is a component of a core network of thetelecommunications network 300. Thesecond telecommunications network 304 comprises also ananchor point 314 and abase station 316. Theanchor point 314 is located in the core network of thesecond telecommunications network 304, whereas thebase station 316 is located in the access network of thesecond telecommunications network 304. Theanchor point 308 is connected via the (public)internet 318 to theanchor point 314 so that data can be exchanged between the first andsecond telecommunications networks 300, 304.
• The firstmobile terminal 302 comprises amicroprocessor 320 which executes acomputer program product 322. The secondmobile terminal 306 also comprises amicroprocessor 324 which also executes acomputer program product 326.
• In operation, thecomputer program product 322 of the first mobile terminal causes the firstmobile terminal 302 to collectfirst information 328 about radio access possibilities that are currently available for the firstmobile terminal 302. In the following it is assumed that the firstmobile terminal 302 is only able to detect thefirst network 300 as available radio access possibility although thebase station 316 is in close vicinity to the firstmobile terminal 302. Thus, the firstmobile terminal 302 is only able to collectinformation 330 about the radio access possibility (RAP 1) provided by thefirst telecommunications network 300.
• The firstmobile terminal 302 might then send theinformation 328 comprising theinformation 330 to thefirst telecommunications network 300 where it is stored in thedatabase 310. Before thebase station 312 sends a broadcast list of possible handover candidates to the mobile terminals it serves, thebase station 312 accesses the database and includes theinformation 328 into the broadcast list so that the served mobile terminals (not shown inFig. 3) obtain theinformation 328.
• Furthermore, the firstmobile terminal 302 can send thefirst information 328 to thefirst network 300, wherein theanchor point 308 is adapted to forward the first information to thesecond anchor point 314 which further processes thefirst information 328 to thebase station 316 which broadcasts thefirst information 328 to the mobile terminals served by thebase station 316. Hence, the second mobile 306 obtains thefirst information 328 via thenetworks 300 and 304.
• The secondmobile terminal 306 also executes acomputer program product 326. Thecomputer program product 326 further causes the secondmobile terminal 306 to collectsecond information 332 relating to the radio access possibilities which are currently available to the secondmobile terminal 306. The collectedinformation 332 comprisinginformation 334 about the radio access possibility (RAP 2) provided by thesecond network 304 is transmitted by the secondmobile terminal 306 to the firstmobile terminal 302 via aBluetooth connection 336 which is established for this purpose between the two mobile terminals.
• The firstmobile terminal 302 thus gets knowledge about the availability of thesecond telecommunications network 304 because of theinformation 334 and might consider to request a handover from thefirst telecommunications network 300 to thesecond telecommunications network 304. For this, themobile terminal 302 sends a request to theanchor point 308 which is adapted to support, e.g., a seamless handover of the mobile terminal 302 from thefirst telecommunications network 300 to thesecond telecommunications network 304.
• Instead of having the anchor points 308 and 314 located in thenetworks 300 and 302, one or more anchor points could be located in theinternet 318. The anchor points would then be more or even completely radio access network provider independent and could for example be made accessible all radio access network operators.
• Fig. 4 shows schematically a block diagram of a firstmobile terminal 400 and a secondmobile terminal 402. Initially, the secondmobile terminal 402 is located at position A, outside thecoverage area 404 of a hotspot. The firstmobile terminal 400 is located inside thecoverage area 404 of the hotspot.
• In operation, the firstmobile terminal 400 collectsfirst information 406 about the hotspot and transmits thefirst information 406 via aconnection 408 to the secondmobile terminal 402. Theconnection 408 might for example be a Bluetooth connection extra established between the two terminals for the transmission of thefirst information 406.
• The secondmobile terminal 402 receives the first information (which comprises information about the location of the first mobile terminal 406) and informs its user about the possibility of the hotspot at the location of the firstmobile terminal 400. In response to this notice, the user of the secondmobile terminal 102 moves along thepath 410 in order to relocate himself to position B, a location in the vicinity of the location of the firstmobile terminal 400. The user of the secondmobile terminal 402 is then able to connect to the hotspot and use the services provided by the hotspot.
List of Reference Numerals

• 100	Firstmobile terminal
  102	Secondmobile terminal
  104	Base station
  106	Hotspot
  108	Connection
  110	Microprocessor
  112	Computer program product
  114	First information
  116	Information aboutradio access possibility
  118	Microprocessor
  120	Computer program product
  122	Second information
  124	Information aboutradio access possibility
  126	Connection
  128	Coverage area
  130	Connection
  300	First telecommunications network
  302	Firstmobile terminal
  304	Second communications network
  306	Secondmobile terminal
  308	Anchor point
  310	Database
  312	Base station
  314	Anchor point
  316	Base station
  318	Internet
  320	Microprocessor
  322	Computer program product
  324	Microprocessor
  326	Computer program product
  328	First information
  330	Information aboutradio access possibility
  332	Second information
  334	information aboutradio access possibility
  336	Connection
  340	Connection
  342	Connection
  400	Firstmobile terminal
  402	Secondmobile terminal
  404	Coverage area ofhotspot
  406	First information
  408	Connection
  410	Path

Claims (10)

1. A method of providing information (114, 122) about radio access possibilities (104, 106), the method being performed by a first mobile terminal (100), the method comprising:

   - collecting first information (114) about a first set of radio access possibilities (104), the first set of radio access possibilities comprising the radio access possibilities which are currently available for the first mobile terminal;

   - transmitting the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities in order to provide the first information to other mobile terminals.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving second information (122) about a second set of radio access possibilities (104, 106), the second set of radio access possibilities comprising the radio access possibilities which are currently available for a second mobile terminal (102).
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

   - selecting a radio access possibility (106) from the second set of radio access possibilities (104, 106) and/or from the first set of radio access possibilities (104), the radio access possibility being considered as a new access possibility by the first mobile terminal;

   - initiating a handover from an initial radio access possibility (104) to the radio access possibility (106), the initial radio access possibility being currently employed by the first mobile terminal.
4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

   - sending the first and/or second information (114, 122) to a first telecommunications network, the first telecommunications network providing an initial access possibility to the first mobile terminal;

   - requesting the first telecommunications network for considering radio access possibilities of the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities as possible candidates for a handover from the initial radio access possibility to one radio access possibility of the second set of radio access possibilities.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first information is transmitted from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal via a direct connection, and/or wherein the second information is received by the first mobile terminal from the second mobile terminal via the connection, and/or wherein the first information is transmitted to the first telecommunications network, wherein the first telecommunications network forwards the first information to a second telecommunications network, wherein the second telecommunications network transmits the first information to the second mobile terminal, wherein the second mobile terminal is served by the second telecommunications network.
6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first information and/or the second information comprise information about the type, and/or price, and/or quality, and/or transmission power, and/or location, and/or quality of service, and/or channel quality, and/or load, and/or identifiers of each access possibility of the first and/or second sets of access possibilities.
7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

   - selecting a radio access possibility from the second set of radio access possibilities, the radio access possibility being considered as a new access possibility by the first mobile terminal, the radio access possibility being currently available for the second mobile terminal at the location of the second mobile terminal;

   - informing the user of the first mobile terminal about the availability of the radio access possibility at this location.
8. A mobile terminal (100), the mobile terminal relating to a first mobile terminal, the first mobile terminal comprising:

   - means for collecting first information (114) about a first set of radio access possibilities, the first set of radio access possibilities comprising radio access possibilities being currently available for the first mobile terminal;

   - means for transmitting the first information about the first set of radio access possibilities in order to provide the first information to at least one second mobile terminal (102).
9. An anchor point (308; 314) comprising:

   - means for receiving a request for a handover of a first mobile terminal (302) to a selected radio access possibility (304) of a set of radio access possibilities, information (332) about the set of radio access possibilities being provided to the first mobile terminal by a second mobile terminal, the set of radio access possibilities comprising the radio access possibilities currently available for the second mobile terminal;

   - means for supporting the handover from an initial radio access possibility (300) to the selected radio access possibility, the initial radio access possibility being currently the serving radio access possibility of the first mobile terminal.
10. A telecommunications network (300) comprising:

    - means for receiving first information (114) about a first set of radio access possibilities (104) and/or second information (122) about a second set of radio access possibilities (104, 106) from a first mobile terminal (100), the radio access possibilities of the first set of radio access possibilities being currently available for the first mobile terminal, the radio access possibilities of the second set of radio access possibilities being currently available for a second mobile terminal (102), the second mobile terminal providing the second information to the first mobile terminal, the telecommunications network serving the first mobile terminal via an initial access possibility; .

    - means for receiving a request from the first mobile terminal through which the telecommunications network is asked to perform a handover for the first mobile terminal from the initial access possibility to a target radio access possibility, the target radio access possibility being comprised in the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities;

    - means for selecting a radio access possibility from the first and/or second set of radio access possibilities by use of the second information, the radio access possibility being a possible candidate for a handover of the first mobile terminal from the initial access possibility to the selected radio access possibility.

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